This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from the prior Japanese Patent Application No. 2000-307969, filed Oct. 6, 2000, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an identifying apparatus, an apparatus to be identified, an identifying method, and a printing apparatus, which are suitable to monitor the status of replaceable consumable items of an apparatus such as a copying machine, a printer, and a facsimile machine.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is general to employ consumable items such as toner in a copying machine and a printer. For easy user maintenance, the consumable items are unitized; accordingly, they can easily be replaced.
Most consumable-item units are degraded with use and their original performance cannot be delivered when they are used to some extent. To prevent this problem, the following measure has conventionally been taken: The main body of the apparatus monitors the amount of use of a consumable-item unit and inhibits a user from using the unit when its lifetime ends.
It is however general that the amount of use is monitored as the number of prints counted from when a consumable-item unit is inserted. If, therefore, a spent consumable-item unit is inserted, the apparatus will identify it as an unused one and monitor the amount of use thereof. Thus, the used consumable-item unit can be used as a new one, as can be a consumable-item unit counterfeited based on the used one.
To resolve the above problem, a consumable-item unit is formed to include a memory for storing the amount of use thereof. However, such a consumable-item unit can easily be counterfeited as a new one if data of the memory is rewritten.
A consumable-item unit is partly broken mechanically or electrically when it is inserted in the main body of an apparatus, based on which a used consumable-item unit can be distinguished from a new one. However, such a configuration makes it difficult to recycle the used consumable-item units through a regular route.
An object of the present invention is to reliably identify the status of a unit such as the consumable-item unit without being easily counterfeited and easily recycle the consumable-item unit.
The above object is attained by an identifying apparatus to which an apparatus to be identified is freely replaceable, for identifying a status of the apparatus to be identified, the identifying apparatus comprising an input port configured to receive an input signal from the apparatus to be identified; an output port configured to supply an output signal to the apparatus to be identified; an identification code generating section configured to generate an identification code and output the identification code from the output port; a plurality of encoding sections corresponding to a plurality of logics, respectively and each configured to encode the identification code into a specific code by a corresponding one of the logics; a plurality of collators corresponding to the plurality of encoding sections, respectively and each configured to collate the specific code obtained by a corresponding encoding section and the input signal received by the input port with each other; an identifying section configured to identify a status of the apparatus to be identified based on a collation result of the plurality of collators; and a logic rewriting section configured to monitor a use status of the apparatus to be identified based on an identification result of the identifying section and rewrite a logic for encoding the code in the apparatus to be identified at given timing.
The above object is also attained by an apparatus to be identified, which is freely replaceable to an identifying apparatus and whose status is identified by the identifying apparatus, the apparatus to be identified comprising a response code generating section configured to encode an identification code output from the identifying apparatus into a response code by any one of a plurality of logics and supply the response code to the identifying apparatus, thereby allowing a logic for use to be rewritten under control of the identifying apparatus.
The above object is also attained by a method for identifying a status of an apparatus to be identified by an identifying apparatus to which the apparatus to be identified is freely replaceable, the identifying apparatus including an input port configured to receive an input signal from the apparatus to be identified and an output port configured to supply an output signal to the apparatus to be identified, the method comprising: outputting an identification code from the output port; encoding the identification code into a specific code by a corresponding one of a plurality of logics; collating the specific code obtained by the corresponding one of the plurality of logics and the input signal received by the input port with each other; identifying a status of the apparatus to be identified based on a result of collation between the specific code and the input signal; and monitoring a use status of the apparatus to be identified and rewriting a logic for encoding the code in the apparatus to be identified at given timing.
The above object is attained by a printing apparatus in which a consumable item is freely insertable, for printing an image using the consumable item, the printing apparatus comprising: an input port configured to receive an input signal from the consumable item; an output port configured to supply an output signal to the consumable item; an identification code generating section configured to generate an identification code and output the identification code from the output port; a plurality of encoding sections corresponding to a plurality of logics, respectively and configured to encode the identification code into a specific code by a corresponding one of the logics; a plurality of collators corresponding to the plurality of encoding sections, respectively and configured to collate the specific code obtained by a corresponding encoding section and the input signal received by the input port with each other; an identifying section configured to identify a status of the consumable item based on a collation result of the plurality of collators; and a logic rewriting section configured to monitor a use status of the consumable item based on an identification result of the identifying section and rewrite a logic for encoding the code in the consumable item at given timing.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out hereinafter.